Tattooed Bridesmaids
Presumably if you know someone well enough to ask her to be in your wedding party, you know her well enough to be aware that she has a tattoo (of course, if the woman gets her ink after agreeing to be a bridesmaid, that is another story). Maybe you don’t mind it normally, but are not so sure it would look good in the pictures. Or perhaps you have always thought tattoos were ugly, but did not worry about your friend’s tattoo until you had a vested interest in her appearance. Let it be said that bridesmaids should always be chosen based on friendship not looks…yet no bride wants one person in her wedding party to be a distraction because of her appearance.
Some brides who do not mind tattoos at all might be concerned about what type of impression a tattooed bridesmaid will make on their relatives, particularly the older ones. Let’s face it: a genteel grandmother might well be aghast at the sight of a tattoo on one of her granddaughter’s bridesmaids. If the bride’s family is generally conservative and the wedding is formal, this is a legitimate concern. Yet it would be crazy to base your decision about whether to invite a dear friend to be in your wedding on a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder (now if she has a tattoo on her face, that is something else altogether!).
Asking a bridesmaid to cover her tattoo can be dicey, but there are some options. Some of it depends on the personality of her friend and why she got the ink in the first place. Did a whole group of friends go on spring break and decide to get the same cute little tattoo on their shoulders? Chances are, your friend does not have a strong personal attachment to her tat, and would not be horribly offended if you asked her to cover it for your wedding. You could preface your request by saying something like, “I think your tattoo is cute, but my grandmother would just die and she is paying for the wedding.”
There are a couple of possible options when dealing with tattooed bridesmaids. If your friend does not might covering it, you should at least pay for the special makeup needed. When asking seems too potentially insulting, another option is to select bridesmaid attire which is artfully designed to cover the tattooed body part – but it has to be on all the bridesmaids, so that the tattooed one does not feel singled out. Maybe that means choosing a dress with a higher back to cover a shoulder tattoo or ordering custom bridesmaid jewelry, such as a wide multiple strand bracelet to cover a wrist tattoo. Of course, the final option is just to let it go. No one will think less of the bride just because one of her friends has some body art, and hey, you can always have the tattoo Photoshopped out of your wedding photos later.
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